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After the Revolution
Source: A History of Marlboro County: With
Traditions and Sketches of Numerous Families,
1897
With the close of the
protracted and arduous struggle through which the country had
passed, and the return of peace ; came many responsibilities. The material development of
the State, the establishment of schools, the payment of debts, the
creation of a currency, and the
enforcement of order and law, everything in short, essential to the
prosperity of a new government, demanded attention. The halls of
justice long closed were to be
reopened; a nation just born was to take its initial steps in
self-government, and not license, and lawlessness.
The State Legislature was
called to meet in January, 1783. Major Tristram Thomas was elected
Senator for Cheraw District, and Lemuel Benton, Thomas Powe, William Pegues, William
Strother, William DeWitt, and Claudius Pegues, members of the House
of Representatives. At that session
Claudius Pegues was elected Ordinary for the District, and William
DeWitt, Sheriff. Both of these offices at that time were
especially important. Many deaths
had occurred, many estates were unsettled, and there was great need
for prudence and skill in the men who were called to these responsible positions,
and it was greatly to the credit of these gentlemen to be counted
worthy to fill those places, and
that they were not found wanting.
The first general court
after peace was declared was held at Long Bluff in November, Judge
Grimke presiding. The Judge had but lately received his commission. He was a student in
England when the war broke out, but hurried to his native shore and
threw himself into the struggle
upon the side of liberty. He sat upon the bench
and saw before him in the courtroom and the "jury box" the forms of
men, who, like himself, had passed through the hardships and dangers of the field while their
property was exposed to the depredations of the Tories, and could
yet rise above emotions of resentment and hatred. He counseled his
countrymen no longer to brand their people with this appellation,
but to seek for things that make for peace. For thirty-six years he lived to
enforce and expound justice and law. Judging from the anecdotes that
Judge O'Neal records of him in his
"Bench and Bar," we should say of him, "A terror to evil-doers," and
a "Spur to plodding lawyers."
In the Edgefield court, 1815,
the sessions docket was exceedingly heavy. The "solicitor, Mr.
Starke, presented forty bills of indictment for every grade of offense from assault and battery
to murder.. Thirty-nine were found "true bills." Many convictions
followed. One of the Edge-field
rowdies of the day, looking on at the arraignment and conviction of
so many, swore it 'was no place for him to be,' for said he,
'Starke holds and Grimke skins.' "
No doubt the wise words of this Judge, addressed to a Grand Jury
composed of such men as George Hicks, Morgan Brown, Moses Pearson, Philip Pledger,
Thomas Ellerbe, and others of like spirit, had much effect in
restoring peace and order; in encouraging the people in self-reliance,
industry and respect of law. It also encouraged the improvement of
public highways and river navigation. It was at this term of court that
the Grand Jury recommended the opening of a road from Long Bluff to
Barnes s bridge, or Gum Swamp,
where it was to meet another from Cross Creek, now Fayettville, in
North Carolina, the road upon which Bennettsville is
located.
It was during the session of 1785 that an Act passed
the Legislature, establishing inferior courts of justice, like the
County Courts of some neighboring
States. By this Act the District of Cheraw was divided into three
Counties, Darlington, Chesterfield, and Marlboro, the latter
embracing the territory on the eastern side of the Great Pee Dee,
and which is included in the County
of to-day. By this Act justices were to be appointed; with power to
build court-houses, lay taxes
for this purpose, hold quarterly sessions, have jurisdiction
in causes at "common law," when the debt was "liquidated by bond, or
note of hand, or where the damages
did not exceed fifty pounds and in minor criminal cases, with the
right of appeal to the higher courts. The first
Board of Justices appointed
for Marlboro consisted of the
following: Claudius Pegues, George Hicks, Morgan
Brown, Tristram Thomas Claudius Pegues, Jr., Moses Pearson and Thomas Evans. The
position was one of trust, demanding wisdom and integrity. As "gold
is purified in the fire," the
ordeal through which these men had passed had proven their character
before their fellow citizens.
They seemed to
have organized at once, and
tradition has it that they met for a time at Gardner's Bluff, or
near there, but the permanent location selected was nearer to
Crooked Creek, near by what is now
Evans' Mill. Gen. Thomas's conveyance of the
ground to the above-named
Commissioners is upon record. The building
erected was of wood, two stories high—capacious and substantial, but
the locality proved unhealthy. The court-house was found to be inconveniently
located, and in 1819 steps were taken to change the seat of justice
to a more central and healthy spot. So, in 1824, a new court-house
was finished at Bennnettsville,, the present
site.
It is not to be understood that the Circuit courts were
abandoned when the County courts were established. The court for
Cheraw District of the Northern
Circuit seems yet to have been regularly held, but this dual system
does not appear to have been satisfactory, and a change in
the system was thought to be
necessary. So that, at the session of Legislature, 1799, a bill was
passed for "instituting District courts in the several Counties of
the State." The Counties were, therefore, called Districts until
1868, when the Convention of
reconstruction restored the old title.
Let us turn back to
the natal day in 1785 when the three divisions formed in Cheraw
District had to be named. One of them, Darlington, took the name of a gallant colonel who distinguished
himself in the War of Independence. Chesterfield honored the old
English Earl whose name has long
been the synonym of dignity and grace. Our own division went across
the water also in search of a name, and fixed on England's
grand old soldier, who never knew
defeat in the battles of a life-time, and honored the Duke of
Marlborough by taking his heroic name. Before passing entirely from the County court period of
our history, it may be well to mention other men who sat upon the
bench of justices. In March, 1786,
we find William Thomas, Thomas Lide, and William Easterling. The
latter is recognized as the ancestor of the Adamsville branch
of the family bearing that name. He
was afterwards made Ordinary and served until his death in honorable
old age.
Mr. Lide ("Colonel," he was called) is said to have
been a man of high character, the grandfather of Governor John Lide
Wilson, and the father of five
sons; John, Thomas, Charles M., Robert and James; also a daughter
who first became Mrs. Twitty and afterwards Mrs. Burn. Charles
Motte Lide, one of the sons, was
considered one of the most remarkable men of his day. Educated,
intellectual, a gifted orator, few men could so sway the emotions of an audience; but
strangely erratic, and of feeble health and irregular habits, he
sank into an early grave.
The Colonel and Justice was a pious man, a prominent
Baptist, and died greatly lamented, soon after his appointment to a
justiceship in Marlboro. In 1787 William Thomas came from Maryland and
settled a few miles above Cheraw, on the east side of
the river, married a Miss Little, who had some property, to which he
largely added. One son, William L., was given to this pair. He married a Miss
Benton, who had two sons, Alexander, who died unmarried, and William
L., who married Jane McQueen, and
died childless. His widow afterwards became the wife of Col. John
Campbell, the Congressman, and passed calmly away within
the last few months. Thus it is
seen that this branch of the Thomas family is extinct.
In
1789 Drury Robertson was made a justice. It is said that this
gentleman came to Marlboro after the war. If so he must have been a
man of marked influence, for he
became prominent in the affairs of the country at once, having been
elected to the Legislature the year before he was made a Justice. There is a tradition that he had
a command in the revolutionary army, and this may have helped him to
positions where there were so many
worthy competitors.
Major Robertson made property, and
secured a splendid body of land upon both sides of Naked Creek, and
built a mill or two upon that stream. He was the maternal grandfather of that
noble son of Marlboro, Col. William T. Ellerbe. Samuel Brown, a
member of the Brownsville family,
and George Cherry, another citizen of Lower Marlboro, and Benjamin
Hicks, also were members of this County Court Commission,
before it was finally abolished in
1799. It is proper in this connection to place upon record the names
of the men who were elected from Marlboro, to the State Legislature, bearing in
mind that until 1790 they were chosen to represent Cheraw District,
or St. David's Parish, rather than
the separate counties.
In 1786 William Thomas was elected
Senator, and Calvin Spencer, Robert Baxter, Morgan Brown, Andrew
Hunter, Lemuel Benton, and William
Strother, Representatives Most of the latter resided on the western
side of the river,which was altogether fair, since the eastern side
had the Senator. In 1788 the same members appear. On May 12th, of
that year, a convention assembled
for the ratification of the Federal Constitution. The delegates from
the Cheraw District were Lemuel Benton, Tristram Thomas,
William DeWitt,Calvin Spencer,
S.Taylor, R. Brownfield, and Benj. Hicks. This delegation voted for
the ratification. In November of that year Morgan Brown was elected Senator, and Robert
Ellison, Charles Evans, Thomas Evans, Robert Brownfield, Drury
Robertson, and Henry Cannon,
Representatives.
It was the Legislature of which these were
members that issued a call for a State Constitutional Convention,
which met in Columbia in May, 1790.
For St. David's Parish the following delegates were sent: Calvin
Spencer, Benj. Hicks, Lem Benton, Robert Ellison, Charles Evans, Morgan Brown and Rev.
Evan Pugh. This Convention adopted a Constitution June 3d, which
gave the three counties of Cheraw
District, two Representatives each, and two Senators for the three.
At the next election Morgan Brown and Robert Allison "were
chosen Senators, and Thomas Evans,
and John Jones James were Representatives from Marlboro.
In
1792, Robert Allison, whose term of service had expired, was re-elected Senator, and
John J.James and Benj. Hicks Representatives from Marlboro. In 1794
Marlboro elected as Representatives
J. J. James and Drury Robertson, and in 1796, they were re-elected,
with William and Tristram Thomas as Senators. In 1798, William Whitfield took the place of Mr.
James, and John Mclver that of General Thomas in the Senate. In
1800, Drury Robertson was succeed
by David Stewart in the House, and Alex Mclntosh took the place of
William Thomas. The organization of the militia seems to have
received the attention of the
Legislature at an early period. In the returns of 1787-1788 the
Cheraw regiment, Col. Benton commanding, is put down at one thousand men, and in 1789 a cavalry
company was organized at Cheraw with Samuel Taylor as captain,
Holden Wade and Benny Hicks, lieutenants, and forty privates.
By 1794 the militia of the
State had so increased that the Cheraw regiment had grown into a
brigade of three regiments, the Thirty-seventh or Marlboro, under Col. Thomas
Evans. Col. Benton, who, for long years, had been deservedly
popular, faithful and true upon the
field of war, foremost as a statesman, a leader in every enterprise
looking to the country's welfare, was now in Congress as the first
representative of the Pee Dee
district. He naturally enough aspired to, and expected to be made a
brigadier. But Maj. Thomas was also an idol with his people; faithful, true and capable
wherever the voice of his country, or duty to his Saviour called
him, and he it was whom his countrymen preferred as the commander of the
brigade. The sensibilities ot the soldier were touched when one that
had fought at his side, and since
served as a subordinate, should be promoted above him. Benton
promptly resigned his commission as Colonel of the Cheraw
regiment, and Capt. Spencer was
elected in his place.
In 1800 the Cheraw brigade numbered
2,224 men and the total population of the district is set down at 18,015, an increase of
nearly 8,000 since 1792, when the total was 10,706. Of this latter
number 3,288 were colored, and in
1800 the slaves were 4,877. For Marlboro, in 1800, the white
population was 3,880, and the colored 1,393, nearly three to one in
favor of the whites. Now, we are
largely outnumbered by the sable faces. Has it been that the white
people have emigrated and left their servants behind? or has it been that the natural increase
of the colored race has so largely exceeded the white?
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